ME:HUMAN
by dathyppie
Summary: Cerberus's grandest projects, the SOLDIER iniative, the fruit of their labor were four test subjects, angeal, genesis, sephiroth, and zack fair. stronger than Krogan, and faster than Drell. deadly and intelligent. follow zack fair as he tries to come to terms with his hellish life and still help save the galaxy... femshep/zack/jack ME2&3
1. Chapter 1

_to be human... what does it mean to be human? the answer to this single question has eluded my grasp for so long and yet i can't help but question... if i qualify as 'human'... i was a murderer and a traitor, i turned on the ones who created me, abandoned the few friends i had, the ones who taught me... and for what? freedom, this galaxy isn't free... it doesn't even realized it's oppressed, the fear, the hate, and the pain, all bearing down upon them..._

 _with this realization the shuttle i had stolen from the ones that raised me, descends towards omega... a world that looks more like a cesspool, smells like one too._

"hey you what are you doing here?" came a rough voice from ahead of me, a batarian i think, with the disturbed expresion on his face i knew i was not expected.

"my business is my own, now who is in charge on this rock?" i respond roughly, stareing straight ahead... no one can stop me from finding the ones who did this to me...

"aria, she is in afterlife but good luck getting in." and with that he walked away.

 _simple enough, i should have no trouble..._

the walk to afterlife was uneventful to say the least... though i did pass quite a few entertaining drunks... i walk up the stairs to aria's couch/lounge thingy, and pass by three other humans as they walk back down, two females and one male, one female in n7 armor the other in a skin tight bodysuit, the male wears what appears to be padded clothing... but two of them wear cerberus marks.

one looks familier, like a friendly face, a distant memory. i've had so few of those... _"miri?"_ i ask as my voice quivers.

she turns and looks, the same eyes, it's always the eyes that gave it away. her most human part, so expressive, "oh my god, zack? what happened? cerberus databanks said you went awol... but you were always loyal and kind?"

"project deemed failure all subjects trerminated, only i made it out. but the blood was so real, to many tried to stop me i just wanted to live, to feel human."

"miranda who is this?" the one in n7 armor asks, recognized commander shepard first human spectre.

"this is one of cerberus's grandest projects, the SOLDIER iniative, the fruit of their labor were four test subjects, angeal, genesis, sephiroth, and zack fair. those four alone survived entire lifetimes of horrid experiments, preformed by a cerberus extremist group, as far as i can tell you statistically, he is stronger than a krogan, smarter than a salarian, faster than a drell, and more adaptive than the vorcha... but zack was the special case of the soldiers. he was considered the weakest because he tried to act human, understand us... theycalled in an expert to try to crack him, me, but in the end i just couldn't."

"what do you mean he tried to act human? he looks plenty human to me."

"all soldiers were genetically modified since there second week in the womb of their mothers, at week six they are removed and continue to grow in modified tanks filled with an enhanced liguidized eezo solution, until they reach young adolesent. then they are removed from the tanks to learn everything they know which spans from expert knowledge of chemistry, physics, human anatomy, galatic history, as well as one on one combat and grand war situations. SOLDIERs were meant to be humanity's super weapons... but there were complications." miranda continues.

"complications?"

"my retained 'humanity', sephoroth's apathy, genesis's ambition, and angeal's honor. these were unintended and unnecessary flaws, they made us question our orders, genesis fell first, he gave us time to grab our gear, then sepharoth he said that he wanted to try to care about something and he'd see us on the other side, then angeal fell throwing me in the shuttle as he stayed behind to fight the mercs and mech on cerberus research station SPARTA. then i came here, looking to dissapear... but then, miri is it really you?" i clarify with a slight raspy voice, and slight quiver near the end.

"shhh zack its me im here and im not leaving. not again." and with those words i pass out.

my eyes flicker open and take in the unfamilier surroundings, sounds fill my ears, beeping... medical equipment, a woman steps in front of me. older but no less attractive for it, an air of wisdom radiates from her, a doctor perhaps..

"oh my goodness, your awake. when the commander and miranda brought you down here yesterday you had us all scared. do you remeber what happened before you passed out?"

"i made it to omega then found miri and the commander, but then nothing it all goes blank." i look around trying to take in my surroundings.

"edi please alert the commander and miranda that there guest is awake."

"already done, they should be here momentarily." a synthesized voice responds, AI this could prove trouble if im in hostile territory.

just then the door opens and the two women walk in, miri in her always ready skin tight outfit, and the commander in what looks to be an old biker jaket and 21st century denim jeans, with combat boots... punk much commander?

"so how is he doc? healthy?" shepard asks almost immideatly after walking into the room.

"beyond healthy commander look at this." she says as she passes a datapad to shepard.

"miri im fine trust me just hand me a shirt please." i attempt to rationalize with her, but one look at me obliterated that... well she was going to see my scars eventually.

"when did you get these?" she asks tracing one particular scar on my right shoulder.

"some are as old as i am, other are as recent as last month in earth time. don't worry my body repairs so fast they will never bug me, now please hand me a shirt."

she does but then the commander turns and throws the datapadd at my head. i catch it but still, woman has a mean throwing arm.

"are you shitting me, by all rights you should be dead seven times over, not to mention how the hell are you still operating, any normal person would have gotten ptsd and slt their throat to end it. so how the fuck can you still stand there and act like your fucking fine?" she screams as i put the new shirt i was given over my head, then look at her cockeyed.

"that's simple commander, i'm not normal... i'm what most would call a test tube baby and besides SOLDIERs aren't allowed to break. our flaws may have been unintended but they kept us sane... for the most part, human." i then push myself off the hospital bed i hade been occupying, "so is anyone going to give me a tour of the ship, or should i just wander?"

i let that question hang before walking out of the room, unsuprisingly both miri and shepard follow me.

the tour of the ship was pretty standard only the occasional question or statement from shepard but that was expected, most people close themselves from me once they learn of my past.

"so where will i be staying?" i ask, though to be honest all i really needed was a locker.

"anywhere you want, if it meets your requirements... it's pretty much first come first serve here." shepard responds, "we will be leaving in twenty, so get ready we are going after doctor mordin solis."

"i need to grab my gear from my shuttle."

"jacob went and piloted the shuttle into our bay, so everything should still be there." and with that shepard walks off towards the cockpit, i walk into the elevator and hit to go to the garage.

i walk out and practically waltz over to my shuttle... 'my' strange, i've never really claimed anything as mine.

shaking my head to clear my thoughts i open the hatch and step into the shuttle, walking over to the pilot seat i see, my only real possesions, the gifts the other SOLDIERs gave me, the day of my escape.

from genesis, an old leather bound book that the title has faded so bad over time the only letters legible are H and L, god how genesis used to love reading this 'masterpiece' as he called it. i read it on the whole ride to omega.

from sepharoth a long brown leather duster, he never wore it. he prefered his black thrench coat, he said the duster never fit right so he gave it to me, but him giving it to me on my birthday... maybe he did care somewhere in there... guess i won't know, not unless he made it out.

and finally from angeal, his sword, the buster sword, a massive hunk of steel, treated to be able to cut through damn near anything, if it's razor sharp edge isn't enough the weight behind the blow will certainally do the job. he gave it to me and told me his reams and honor were now mine to protect... but he never told me how to.

i throw the duster over my shoulder, sliding my arms in, perfect. i the put the book in my inside pocket near my heart. my hand reverentially grasps the handle to my blade, 'mine' again the word is so foreign... but i guess in a way it is mine now. i lift the blade easilly holding it in front of me i turn it til the side of the blade faces me and i rest my forhead against it, thinking of my days as SOLDIER.

-FLASHBACK-

FIVE YEARS AGO, HUMAN COLONY GAIA

 _we were sent in to investagate, a lost team of scientist, they had gone missing at a natural landmark on the earth-like planet named gaia, this land mark was called zues's fist, a strange rock formation in the shape of an out strecthing hand reaching to the sky._

 _the scientist had been studying a new material found within the rock, harder than titanium but more versitile than aluminum. this new material was called adamantium, nicknamed mythril. a large sample had been sent to us at SPARTA sation, and it had been used to craft us our personalized equipment, all of our blades._

 _the scientist had found small traces of radioactive energy at the sight of the dig, when suddenly we lost all contact. it was a search and rescue... we had some of cerberus's best and brightest with us... but, i think the bloodbath was innivitable._

 _we made it to the dig site at 0900 hours on december 23 2181. the station had been dark for more than a month but signs showed it had been used as recently as the previous day. terminals still running, warm food on the tables... it all smeeled of ambush, but we had our orders. and in SOLDIER we follow orders, even if we dont want to._

a voice stirs me from my memories.

-FLASHBACK END-

"i'm not interuppting anything am i?" i turn to see the ever beautiful shepard behind me, her light auburn hair, her playful and kind blue eyes, even the slight scar on her face dont take away from her beauty.

"no commander, just lost in thought. i guess you could say."

"what were you thinking about?" she asks appearing genuinly curious.

"a mission on gaia about five years two months and eight days ago. things went wrong we lost a lot of people not just soldiers, but scientists and civilians as well. two hundred ninty-three to be exact. not exactly my most shining moment in SOLDIER, that's for damn sure." i respond before grabbing the holster and sheathe for my sword and clipping it on and slinging my sword in.

"we all have ghosts we'd rather not talk about, look at what happened to me on akuze, or even my days as a kid on earth. but it isn't healthy to keep those things to ourselves, if you ever need someone to talk to zack, don't hesitate to ask." she says with a kind smile.

"i won't and shepard, i'll extend the same offer to you. i may not know much about our kind, but... i've been told i'm a very good listener." i smirk at the memory of a slightly younger miri telling me about her own modifications, and her dad.

she laughs and extends her hand, "i don't think we've been properly introduced, i'm rachel shepard. nice to meet you."

"zack fair, and believe me the pleasure is all mine," i grin as i grasp her hand.

"i'm sure it is, but we have a mission, you ready for this soldier?" she returns my grin in full force.

"i was born ready, commander."

with our piece said shepard and i walk out and meet up with miri and jacob, before taking the shuttle to omega's surface. miri hands me the docier on modin and i do my best to memorize the data, a former stg agent, and a doctor, genetics... useful.

"so umm... zack where is your gear?" jacob asks.

i look up from the data pad with a dry look, "is that a real question taylor?" he nods, and i sigh. "i will say this one more time I AM SOLDIER, this is my gear, i am given my blade as my weapon and allowed my skin as my armor. that is it, be lucky they allow us to wear clothes, otherwise... well lets just says the ladies would be getting a nice eyeful of my genetic modification." i speak in a playful voice but with a deadly serious undertone.

miri and shepard blush heavily from the implificcations of my words as well as the playful tone they were spoken in.

we dock on omega and instantly the playful tone drops, mission time.

shepard gets us to the quarintine zone, beautiful and intimidating, i like her more every second. the elevator ride seems to go on for ever, until finally the doors open, and we are stareing a baricade with turians aiming guns at us.

"wait they have permission to pass, let them through. becareful out ther blue suns and vorcha are tearing the place apart."

as we descend the stairs we find two blue suns mercs at the other side of the way.

"hey SOLDIER think you can handle two little grunts?"

"did i really hurt your pride that much taylor? or are you just that stupid?"

"oh so your telling me that big ass sword is just for show, what kind of dambass arrogant bitc..." he doesn't get to finish because my blade is pressed against his neck.

"don't you dare fucking finish that sentence, the man this sword belonged to was twenty times the man you will ever be, and all he ask me before he walked off to meet death like an old friend was to protoct his dreams and honor... and i will not let you stain it with your slander you egotistical little shit stain." and with that i remove the blade from his neck walk three steps forward, then hold my blade til it turns yellow, before preforming a horizontal slash that arcs it's way to the enemies before cutting them in half and gouging deep cuts into the walls and door behind them.

"that could have been you operative taylor. don't ever speak a word against angeal again or the next slash will be through you."

"what kind of biotics was that?" he asks with fear leaking from him.

"it wasn't," this comes from miranda, "those weren't biotics and that information is on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know jacob. commander if you want to know i'll be happy to tell you back on the ship." they finish up as i walk over to the blue suns, i toss their bodies in the fire next to the walk.

i fall into what angeal used to call my battle trance, one slash blends into another. one kill leads to the next and time becomes irrelevent. i clean my blade of the krogan guts that had begun to dry, pulling from my pouch a wetstone i sit on the carcass of the deceased krogan, and sharpen the kinks out.

"fair, you ok down there?" shepard's head pokes over the railing.

"nope that krogan tore me in half and painted the walls in my blood. have a little faith luv, i'm fine." i respond before returning my attention to my blade.

"... don't worry shepard it's how he shows he cares. he may or may not feel that way towards you, the only one that would know is him." i hear miri speak as the team walks down the stairs.

"well, shep are those cheeks tinted? now if any of the squad found out of our relationship we could be in trouble. don't worry luv, i'll be discreet." i say as i stand and walk over to them, before leaning over and planting a kiss on her helmet, "now i believe a salarian scientist needs extraction." i begin walking before hearing three sets of footfalls behind me.

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AN: well here is my first chapter to my newest story, it's not a true crossover with ff7 there are characters in there from that. so read and review if ya want, id love to get your thoughts.

and don't worry the next chap will come along soon, now DA HYPPIE IS OUT... DOUCES


	2. Chapter 2

the rest of the mission was a blur, the salarian was extracted after we delt with some vorcha who tried to sabatoge the life support of the wards. god i feel a certain level of disdain for the vorcha, not because they are aliens... but to so willingly serve the collectors and thus the reapers, my blood boils with rage... metaphorically ofcourse.

in fact i'm so absorbed by my thoughts i don't even realize i'm back on the normandy with the professor while shepard and the others are retrieving archangel, i believe he is attempting to figure out what the fuck cerberus did to me.

"need help with anything doc?" i ask in a mildly tired tone.

"no no, just studing what my preliminary scans have shown... you look tired fair, you should head down to your quarters and rest while you can. i believe sheperd said she would need your help with something when she gets back."

"alright doc, let me know if you find anything truly marvelous." i say as i walk out of the lab and head for the elevator. while my feet move my mind fades, back to memories, perhaps i shouldn't have stayed.

 _FLASHBACK FOUR DAY AGO, 1500 SPARTA STATION_

 _"happy birthday, zack." angeal shouts as i walk into the 'dorm' where we stay, sephiroth leans against a locker and nods with a small smirk on the corner of his lips, genesis waves his hand with the largest shit eating grin i've ever seen._

 _"bout time you got here, pup... the wait was killing me." genesis prods his grin only growing larger._

 _"i'm sorry your highness if i had known that my being sent on a solo mission would result in your boredom i would have requested your aid upon the mission." i respond back just as quick, a grin working it's way onto my face, we weren't a family but we were always close... this was just how we were._

 _"now now children i believe we came here to give gifts to young zackery here." sephiroth states near emotionless, but quirks his lips as i turn an irritated glare in his diriction._

 _we all sit on the stools cerberus was kind enough to supply us with, their gifts were perfect... just what i needed to remember them by. sephiroth a jacket, genesis a play book, and angeal a necklace, ahh the jewelery jokes. those last few minutes together... so carefree, i would never trade them for anything._

 _the door to our dorm opens and in walks an armored cerberus trooper, "the SOLDIER intiative has been deemed a failure, all subjects are ordered to lay down their arms and proceed to the elimination chambers."_

 _as soon as the grunt finished speaking his head rolled along the floor, genesis stood where he had moments ago, "grab your gear and go... get out while you can."_

 _"but gen you'll..."_

 _"i know, but hell isn't this a way to go out. fighting for my brothers' lives." and with that he walks out into the hall, his hybrid rapier longsword gripped tightly in his right hand. before i can argue seph grabs my shoulder and forces me out into the hall and down the opposite direction than genesis._

 _angeal follows behind tossing me my average sized longsword, and handing seph his long katana, masamune, his own buster sword present on his back as always._

 _we reach an intersection, and troops are marching down two of the walkways, "keep running, i'll cover you. angeal, make sure the puppy makes it out of here." and angeal just nods and forces me to run away, from my friend, my brother who is sacrificing himself all for me... i don't understand._

 _we reach the hanger and angeal throws me into a shuttle, before walking to the computer, setting course for omega, then laying his buster sword almost reverntly down beside me, "my dreams and my honor are now yours, zack, may they protect you on the road you'll travel." then he rises, and walks into the oncoming horde of troopers, smiling sadly the whole way._

 _"you want me dead, so be it... but i'll take out every last man on this station in the process." then he charges, fists flying and kicks screaming through the air, as he obliterates his foes, but then a man with a katana drops from above. he lands a blow down angeal's back, he then is forced to duck, dodge, and roll away as angeal lays blow after blow in his direction._

 _no matter how valintly angeal fought the katana wielder was always one step ahead, i think angeal knew this, he threw a straight punch that the man ducked under before running angeal through upon his blade, hands clasp down upon the mans own, his eyes widen in shock, "gotcha bitch," angeal broke the mans hands as he placed an over powered forward kick directly to his ribs, practically ripping his armss from socket._

 _with all foes killed angeal sank to his knees before pulling the sword from his abdomen, he tosses it aside as he attempts to stand, only for his leg to crumple under the effort of holding him up. "damn, well then looks like i can't go with you after all. computer, initiate launch protocol."_

 _the engines on my shuttle roar to life, i attempt to rise but my body refuses to move a muscle... angeal, angeal... "ANGEAL, no i'm not leaving ANGEAL." the door to the shuttle closes as i manage to rise to a knee. then before i know it the SPARTA station is just a dot behind me..." geal...gen...seph..." and i cry, for the first time since i've left the tank, i cry for the loss of my brothers and for the betrayel of cerberus, and then i swore to burn that corperation to the ground, i will murder the elusive man... even if he wasn't the one to make the call. my family would be avenged._

 _FLASHBACK END_

returning to the world outside my memories i find myself standing outside shepards quarters and if i had to guess i'd been there awhile because edi was attempting to gain my attention.

"huh, uh yes edi can i help you?" i respond shaking my head.

"no, i had simply been inquireing as to your health, you had been wandering the normandy for quite some time... in fact shepard is on her way up from the conference room as we speak." as if summoned by edi's words the doors to the elevator open and out walks shepard, her beautiful auburn hair laying free of it's usual ponytail.

"zack, what are you doing up here?" she asks with curiosity rippling throughtout her person.

"i had just been asking myself that very question, it was as if my feet guided me here while i remebered some quite painful memories."

"do you want to talk about it?"  
"i would like that, shepard.. i mean rachel." she smiles when i call her by her first name, and i follow behind her as she enters her room, then i tell her everything... all about that day. and the tears come again, just as fresh as then... but somehow they don't hurt as much this time.

"that's terrible, the others, you called them your brothers. were you close?" she asks as she rubs her hand down my back in a comforting gesture.

"in the traditional sense of the word... no, at first glance almost anyone would assume we all hated each other... but below that there was a kind of respect, a bond that could never be broken. the only way i can discribe it is like the bond between brothers." i respond, the tears have stop and the pain has reduced to a small lingering singe in my heart.

"i think i understand what you mean, back on earth i ran with this gang. we weren't to big but we watched each others backs and in the end we always stood up for each other. when we were able we all left earth in our own ways, i joined the alliance.. i know a couple others that did as well. maybe i should try to find some of the others, i wonder where tifa and cloud ended up." she speaks and i listen as though my sanity depends on the sound of her melodious voice.

but before we could continue speaking joker pops over the intercom, "hey commander we have a call from an old friend on hold for you down in the conference room."

"thanks joker, hey you comin?"

"sure thing commander." i rise from her bed where i had been seated, twirl the buster sword around my fingers before lightly touching it to the magnetic sheath present on the back of my 'armor'.

"show off." shepard says as she walks away.

"you think that's bad you should have seen gen after he finished a fight, practically tortured the survivors with terrible poetry, in fact the only literary works of poetry i like are poe."

"you like edgar allen poe? huh never thought you were the meloncholy sort."

a dry gaze is all i grace her with on that note, then the elevator doors open and we step out and head towards the conference room, stepping inside and walking up to the table shepard reaches down and presses a button.

and my eyes nearly blow out of their sockets, my mouth hangs open and i'm pretty sure i was doing a spot on job impersonating a goldfish.

"hello commander, pup," standing there in all there holographic awe, were my brothers, "my sword still treating you well?"

 **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDD CUT!**

AN: yep here it is my second chapter of my attempt at a mass effect story, it took awhile for me to get this finished even though it isn't that long or anything, i was trying to figure how i wanted this to go and where i wanted it to end, but in the end my hands just wrote what they wanted throwing all thought and plans out the window.

anyway i hope you all enjoy and i'll catch ya later, DATHYPIE IS OUT PEACE!


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